Suriel
A spoiler-free guide to A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR).
Only showing what’s been revealed up to your current progress. Future events, identities, and relationships are hidden.
Overview
The Suriel is introduced as an old and dangerous faerie being that will answer questions if someone manages to trap it. Seeking one is treated as perilous enough that Feyre’s interest alarms Lucien.
When Feyre traps one, the Suriel says it belongs to no court and claims to be older than the High Lords, Prythian, and the bones of the world.
The Suriel dies after coming to help Feyre despite knowing Ianthe had marked it with a tracking spell. In its last conversation, it confirms that its old command to stay with the High Lord meant Rhys and asks Feyre to leave the world better than she found it.
Appearance
The Suriel appears as a terrifying, ancient figure in tattered dark robes, with a withered bone-like face, milky death-white eyes, and a many-layered voice.
Personality and Behavior
A trapped Suriel answers questions, but it does not answer without limits. It can be evasive and selective, redirecting some questions, refusing others, and bargaining for its release.
A Suriel can be lured with bait and caught by a double-loop snare around its legs; Lucien names freshly slaughtered chickens in a birch grove, while Alis later claims a robe would work better. Running water is a practical escape route because the Suriel hates crossing it.
Trapping a Suriel is difficult even for powerful faeries. Rhys says Feyre’s success is one reason he trusts her skill set, and he adds that he has tried and failed twice to catch one.
Suriel are not unique, but they are rare enough that Rhys speaks of them as existing only in small numbers.
The Suriel can move through the world without being trapped or summoned by a snare. Elain tracks its motion toward the Middle, and it appears to Feyre there freely before answering her wartime questions.
Ash arrows can kill the Suriel. When Ianthe’s ambush strikes it through the throat and body, the wounds pour black blood and leave it dying.
Relationships
Feyre first treats the Suriel as a dangerous source of forbidden answers, but she frees it after the naga attack rather than leaving it caged. Afterward, its command to stay with the High Lord carries enough authority for her to change her behavior.
Lucien’s regard for Feyre shifts after he learns that her first shot during the naga attack was to save the Suriel instead of herself.
During Feyre’s second capture of it, the Suriel recognizes her as Feyre Cursebreaker and appears to test whether she will honor its help by freeing it again. It gives her the information she needs for Rhys’s healing and, before leaving, tells her that Rhys is her mate and already knows it.
The Suriel’s final meeting with Feyre is no longer only a forced exchange. It refuses to betray her to Ianthe, mouths for Feyre to run while dying, and says it came despite the tracking spell because Feyre had been kind and had fought her fear. At the end, it asks her to remain with it until it dies.
Important Events
When Rhys is poisoned, Feyre hunts and traps the Suriel for a cure. It identifies the poison as bloodbane, tells her that her own blood is the cure, and adds that a pink-flowered river weed can speed Rhys’s healing.
During the war with Hybern, Feyre seeks the Suriel for strategic truth rather than healing. It answers questions about Hybern, Nesta, the Cauldron, the Book, the Bone Carver, and the Ouroboros before Ianthe attacks.
Ianthe kills the Suriel after using a tracking spell hidden in a robe she had given it. The Suriel knew about the spell but still came to meet Feyre, and it dies after giving its last answers and final charge.
The Suriel’s warning about the Ouroboros proves practical when Feyre survives the mirror. She understands afterward that the danger lay in whether she allowed the worst parts of herself to break her.
The Suriel’s final clue in the Book points to the spell that can unbind Amren. Amren explains that the answer was meant for her, not as a general way for Feyre and her sisters to control the Cauldron.
After the war, the Suriel’s dying request still influences Feyre. Remembering its charge helps her decide that her new studio should serve other wounded people rather than only herself.